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How an Elgin Sports Complex expansion could alleviate congestion in area

Plans also with second entrance await Gov. Rauner's signature, development deal

The city of Elgin has started long-range planning for a possible expansion of the Sports Complex, including the addition of a second entrance to alleviate traffic flow problems.

The Sports Complex is accessible only from McLean Boulevard on the west side, but a second entrance could be added to the east by building a road running into Middle Road, which flows into Route 31, Director of Parks and Recreation Randy Reopelle said.

“The one biggest challenge (for the Sports Complex) is the one way in and one way out,” Reopelle told city council members during a special meeting Saturday.

Last weekend 12,000 to 14,000 people from as far as Iowa and Kentucky attended a girls' fastpitch softball tournament, which caused gridlock that affected golfers from The Highlands of Elgin, which is part of the Sports Complex, Reopelle said.

Problems also can occur when the lightning prediction system goes off and games have to be interrupted, throwing off schedules and making parking lots fill up quickly, Reopelle said.

The plans for a second entrance can begin to take shape once the city gets ownership of the state-owned former Larkin Center's Rakow Campus, which sits between the Sports Complex and another 90 acres owned by the city on the southwest corner of Routes 20 and 31, city officials said.

A bill giving Elgin ownership of the former Rakow Campus is awaiting Gov. Bruce Rauner's signature.

Meanwhile, the city is starting conversations with community entities about their willingness to jointly develop the 90 acres for additional sports fields — especially with synthetic turf — and maybe an indoor sports facility, Reopelle said.

For example, Elgin Community College has “unmet facility needs,” and the Elgin Youth Football League needs more football fields, he said.

Councilwoman Rose Martinez said she supports plans to expand the Sports Complex. “It's really about time we have something indoor and something that's big,” she said. “We should be the sports mecca in this area.”

The city has nearly $780,0000 in tax-increment financing funds — property tax money generated diverted from local governments to help with redevelopment — that had been set aside when John B. Sanfilippo & Son Inc., the parent company of Fisher nuts, had planned to build its headquarters on those 90 acres, Assistant City Manager Rick Kozal said.

There are three empty buildings on the site — an office building, an 1880 horse barn, and a laundry building designed by architect Bertrand Goldberg, who also designed Marina City in Chicago — that were used by the nearby Elgin Mental Health Center, the original owner of the 90 acres.

Sanfilippo ended up locating along Randall Road, and the TIF money now is available for eligible expenses such as surveys, demolition, public works improvements and more, Kozal said.

The parks and recreation department has about $80,000 set aside for tree inventory, an elevation survey and possible concept plan, Reopelle said. The process will start with discussions by the parks and recreation advisory board, he said.

There's great potential in the idea of expanding the Sports Complex, Councilman Terry Gavin said.

“This is going to expand a really successful site worked really well for 30 years and will give us even more revenues,” he said. “It's just about being able to gauge the market. The bottom line is, it's really an opportunity out there.”

Sports: City has $780,000 in tax funds set aside

  The former laundry building that was used by the Elgin Mental Health Center is part of about 90 acres that is owned by the city of Elgin on the southwest corner of routes 20 and 31. The building was designed by architect Bertrand Goldberg, who also designed Marina City in Chicago. Rick West/rwest@dailyherald.com
  Rich Hoke, Elgin building maintenance superintendent, left, talks with Randy Reopelle, Elgin's director of parks and recreation, inside the old laundry building that used to belong to the Elgin Mental Health Center. The building is now owned by the city. Rick West/rwest@dailyherald.com
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